Chris Miksanek's unique perspectives on today's movies.

July 05, 2008

Hollywood dug deep for "Kit Kittredge"

Kit Kittredge is so sweet you’ll have to do thirty minutes on the treadmill at the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center to work-off the calories you pick-up just watching her.

America is in the throes of the Great Depression and without the entitlement programs we know of today, families are torn apart as breadwinners leave to find work or face the spectre of the poor house. On top of that, someone is robbing homes in the neighborhood and all fingers point to a congregation of down-on-their-luck hobos. In that, ten-year-old aspiring reporter Kit Kittredge finds her voice and it’s an inspiring one. As the title implies, Kit is a real American girl. Her unshakable optimism and persistence not only gets her material published but also helps to vindicate the hobos -- and, in fact, along the way demonstrates the very can-do spirit that lifted our entire country out of the Depression. The film is chock full of quirky characters including borders like a magician, dancer, and mobile librarian whom the family take-in to help keep their home and who help make the story remarkably entertaining.

There must be some heavy-duty excavation going on in Hollywood because someone unearthed a very old relic: the G-rated wholesome family movie. They don’t make ’em like this anymore. Maybe they ought to.

Hi! I found your blog while searching for sites about Kit Kittredge. I really loved your review of the movie. You mentioned something I haven't read in any other review thus far when you mentioned how Kit's determination and can-do spirit is demonstrative of the spirit that helped get us out of the Great Depression.

You are also right about the excavation job. It's a welcome change from the norm to have a movie that is wholesome enough AND enjoyable enough for the whole family.

Keep up the great work! I'm glad I found your site. I enjoyed reading your review. Thank you!

Thanks for fixing "throes"! Hollywood didn't really have to dig very deep for this story; I'm surprised you seem unaware that this is about the "American Girl" doll Kit, who/which is part of the American Girl doll EMPIRE any six to sixteen year old girl covets. See their website www.americangirl.com to view these character dolls, stories and books about them, extensive wardrobes and accessories. I guess you don't have a daughter who has pleaded for one....you'd remember then, they're pricey, but excellent quality, and give good imaginative playtime. it was only a matter of time before a movie came out...surpsied it took this long.

Oh, I am very aware of the dolls -- though their popularity only came to my attention with the controversial “Pilsen” girl a while back – but I wanted to approach the film review as “fun for all” rather than only “satisfying for fans of American Girl” which is why I didn’t mention the dolls at all. To be sure, the audience *was* mostly girls (I felt like the only dad at a Brownies meeting) and that’s a shame. *Everyone* can enjoy this and that was the goal of the review. What Hollywood dug deep for wasn’t the plot, but the notion that old-fashioned wholesome fun can still be marketable in a time of jaded young people and de rigueur PG-13 movies.

Unrelated to Kitt, I'm wondering when your reviews for The Dark Knight and Journey To The Center Of The Earth will be posted. You were at the midnight screening nearly a week ago, the same that I went to and I've had my review up for days on http://www.minnesotamoviefreak.com/thedarkknight.htm. I'm just wondering where my fellow area critic's reviews are.